By DEJ Member Kevin DiFrango

The introductions for the ladder match for the Heirloom Swords commenced after a commercial break. V Squared, Virus & Virus Grande, were first out from the back. They hid on each side of the entrance ramp so that they could attack "Bloody" Morty Rackem & Matthew Justice as they were introduced. After a short attack, the Virii each grabbed a ladder and tried to capture the flag, which was a substitute for the Heirloom Swords. I'm glad they decided not to make this match any more dangerous by hanging a couple of sharp pointy objects above the ring. Rackem & Justice put a quick end to the early retrieval attempt. Each team took turns on offense for the first four minutes of the match in the ring.

Rackem and Virus Grande stayed in the ring while Justice and Virus squared off on the floor. Justice got the fans to clear out the area just over the guardrail and then sent Virus sailing over the guard rail into the cleared area. Matthew Justice then moved the stairs from the entrance ramp to up against the guard rail. Justice then got a running start and jumped off the stairs onto Virus with a cross body block. After more brawling from all four men, Virus Grande set up a ladder in the corner of the ring and then slipped another ladder in between a set of rungs and rested on the top turnbuckle. The horizontal ladder jutted out about two foot from the ringpost. Morty Rackem recovered while Virus Grande set up the ladders and took over on offense. After Virus Grande was put down, Rackem ran off the end of the ladder and hit a senton onto Justice and Virus on the floor. The crowd started a "Holy Sh*t" chant after that move.

All three recovered quickly and got into the ring. Virus Grande was climbing one ladder when another got set up beside it. All four contestants paired off fighting on a ladder throwing punches. Each pair knocked over the others' ladders so everyone could get in a breather. Rackem was the first to recover and he set up a ladder diagonally across the ropes at a corner. "Bloody" Morty attempted a superplex off the ladder but crotched himself on a ladder rung. Virus Grande then came down on Rackem, who was hung in the rungs, with a double stomp. On the outside, Justice set up a ladder against the guard rail and put Virus on to it. Matthew Justice then took a running start at Virus, who moved and gave Justice a hip toss onto the ladder. Virus Grande then took over on offense against Justice. He set up a ladder between between the ring apron and guard rail and then put Justice on it. Virus Grande then climbed into the ring and attempted a sling shot splash but Justice moved and Grande ate ladder. Justice tried to bring Virus Grande back into the ring with a suplex but had his neck snapped against the top rope when Virus Grande dropped to the floor. Virus then hit a second rope somersault onto Justice.

Virus then set up a ladder to grab the flag but was stopped by a Morty Rackem drop kick to the ladder. ackem then climbed the ladder and missed a splash off the top of it. With a chair, Virus came running at Rackem in the corner when Virus got sidestepped and was given a drop toehold so that he went face first into the chair. Rackem then hung Virus in a tree of woe and put a chair in front of his face. Rackem tried to get a running start but was tripped by Virus Grande from the outside. Matthew Justice had a small opening and hit a short-sided Van Terminator on Virus. Justice then climbed the ladder but was knocked off when Virus Grande hit him with a thrown chair.

All four took a short breather with Matthew Justice being the first back to his feet. Justice proceeded to set up a table on the outside near the entrance ramp. Virus then met Justice on the entrance ramp and they exchanged punches. Virus Grande then set up a second table beside the first one and joined the attack on Justice. Morty Rackem made the save before Justice got dumped on the tables. Rackem fought around the ring side area with Virus while Justice hit a tornado DDT on Virus Grande on the entrance ramp. Justice then set up Virus Grande on the tables, climbed a ladder that was on the entrance ramp and hit a tenative splash. The crowd went into another holy sh*t chant. After putting Rackem down, Virus set up a ladder in the ring and climbed to grab the flag. He was met on the top rung by "Bloody" Morty. hey exchanged punches until Rackem bit Virus' hand that was holding onto the ladder. Virus fell to the mat and Rackem recovered the flag to win the match. The final shot of the night was Matthew Justice and "Bloody" Morty Rackem celebrating on top of two ladders with the Heirloom Swords back in the possession of the rightful owner.

Analysis: The pacing of the match was too fast and didn't allow the wrestlers to recover from some of this offense that should have been sold for a while longer. A number of the high spots were approached cautiously which made them look a little too contrived. On the upside, the announce team of Joe Domborowski and Jamie Scott did a great job of selling the importance of the first ladder match in Pro Wrestling Ohio. They called the match well, too. The match went for 18 minutes uninterrupted, which was a great idea that TNA still doesn't seem to grasp. Overall, it was a solid ladder match that would rate I would rate three stars out of five.

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